Wyoming beats Southern 67-60 in second-half rally

The Associated Press

November 17, 2012 01:46 AM

The Associated Press

November 17, 2012 01:46 AM

After struggling for 30 minutes and facing an eight-point deficit, Wyoming looked to its senior leader, and Leonard Washington delivered. The 6-7 power forward went to work inside, fighting to the rim, drawing fouls, grabbing key rebounds and sparking a comeback that ended with a 67-60 win over Southern on Friday.

The victory gave the Cowboys the championship of their own Global Hoops Sports Showcase. Washington, named tournament MVP, scored 8 points during a three-minute stretch as the Cowboys clawed back from a 46-38 deficit. He also hit the game-tying free throws with 2:56 to play and came up with a loose ball as the Cowboys were nursing a 5-point lead.

"I felt like I wasn't playing very well tonight, so I said to myself I need to get to the free throw line, get some easy buckets, stop the clock, try to get my team back in the game," he said.

Washington finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal, and hit 9 of 11 free throws. Larry Nance Jr. had 12 points and 12 rebounds for Wyoming (4-0), while Derrious Gilmore had 12 points and Luke Martinez 11.

After a rebounding foul by Miller, Washington's two free throws tied the game at 58. Following a missed 3 by Grace, Martinez hit a pair of foul shots that gave Wyoming a 60-58 edge. Moments later, Martinez took the ball away from Beltran and then was fed by Riley Grabau for a 3-pointer to make it 63-58 with 1:45 left. Grabau and Nance each sank two free throws in the final 32 seconds to clinch the win.

Nance credited Washington for his leadership at crunch time.

"It was really Leonard that gathered us all together and just said, `Hey we talk about this all the time in practice, facing adversity,' and we did it," Nance said. "We definitely took on what they had to offer and got through it."

Southern coach Roman Banks, who saw his team drop four of five on an opening road trip, felt his team put together its best game so far but that Wyoming made the plays down the stretch.

"They got the loose balls, we made some bad fouls, trying to be overaggressive instead of just playing in there," Banks said. "We got to just clean it up."

Wyoming coach Larry Shyatt was pleased with the closing stretch but didn't think his team brought the right defensive mindset.

"I thought we had great will at the end of the game, but it was disappointing that we had a team come into our building and shoot 47 percent from 2 and 47 percent from 3," he said. "We clearly won the game because we handled the ball - eight turnovers."

Making 20 of 22 free throws also helped.

"They usually don't put it on TV and they never put it in the newspaper, but that wins games," Shyatt said. "When you make (91) percent, you can win basketball games - perhaps ugly, but you can win them."

Earlier Friday, South Dakota defeated North Carolina Central 81-69. Wyoming went 3-0 in the round-robin event, while South Dakota, North Carolina Central and Southern finished 1-2.

Washington, Martinez and Miller made the all-tournament team, along with Ray Willis of North Carolina Central and Tyler Flack of South Dakota.